You might wonder why I would pick a Democratic state senator to preside over a Republican event. It’s not because he’s a good speaker.

It’s because he’s a good undertaker.

Codey got his start in politics running the family funeral home in Orange. I’m sure he would have the appropriate graveside manner for the burial of Christie’s hope of having a political future.

Bridgegate was bad enough, but Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer drove another nail into the coffin over the weekend. Zimmer charged that Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno threatened to withhold Hurricane Sandy aid if the city failed to approve a big development project.

Yesterday Guadagno dismissed the charge (see video below). We’ll have to wait for the authorities to sort out who’s telling the truth. But the timing could not have been worse for a governor who’s heading into what was supposed to be a coronation. The weatherman’s not helping out either. A snowstorm’s expected to hit right around the time of the 7 p.m. gala in the Great Hall.

Christie’s campaign workers are so desperate to unload the tickets that they’re even calling on his political enemies to pony up. Yesterday I got a call from Rick Merkt, a Republican from Christie’s hometown of Mendham who ran against Christie in the 2009 Republican gubernatorial primary.

Of late, Merkt has been criticizing Christie in media outlets ranging from the Washington Post to al Jazeera. That didn’t stop the Christie people from ringing him on his cellphone the other day to invite him to the inaugural gala — assuming of course he was willing to make the $500 non-tax-deductible political contribution required for entrée. Merkt demurred.

"His own inauguration is going to be an influence-peddling scheme," said Merkt, who serves on the Mendham Township Committee.

There are few people who part with $500 for a three-hour party without expecting something in return. The usual suspects are lobbyists, law firms and developers. Many such characters have figured in the news reports about first the developments near the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee and then this latest controversy in Hoboken.

Tonight is not a good time to be hosting a get-together for the power elite, particularly for a pol who poses as a down-to-earth Jersey guy.

That was the image Christie offered up on election night, when he made his headquarters in the Asbury Park Convention Hall that had echoes of an appearance by his idol Bruce Springsteen. That evening’s events turned out to be a TV show in which the media were squirreled away in a bunker until the great man came out and gave his scripted spiel.

I suspect something similar was planned for this evening, but the script may need to be rewritten. What looked like a prelude to a presidential primary is starting to look like at best an effort to stick around the Statehouse and at worst an effort to avoid the Big House.

Christie’s trying to blame the media for piling on. He’s got no one to blame but himself. He could have run a campaign with a statewide theme calculated to help his fellow Republicans win legislative seats. Instead he devoted his time to piling up personal endorsements from Democratic mayors. That led to the dust-up in Fort Lee at the center of Bridgegate.

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer and Gov. Chris Christie.Star-Ledger staff

The governor’s mistake, if I may presume to deduce it, is that he got caught up in running his 2016 campaign when he should have been concentrating on 2013. The risks were predictable and at least one guy predicted them. That was state Sen. Ray Lesniak. Right after Mitt Romney lost that 2012 race, I called the Union County Democrat to ask him whether he thought Christie would run for re-election or leave office to pursue the presidency.